Panama Hats in the Movies

Panama hats have appeared frequently on the silver screen. Naturally, they appear more frequently in movies made during times when Panama hats were popular, or in movies set during that period. My own hats appeared in
The Legend of Bagger Vance, reshaped to look as though they had been worn for some time by the characters in the movie. Personally, I preferred how the hats looked when I shipped them compared with how they looked after the wardrobe department had their way with them.

Movie makers have always been more concerned with “the look” than with the quality. Most of the Panamas I’ve seen in recent movies are not very good hats. In fact, the Panama hat worn by Hannibal Lecter in the movie
Hannibal
really, really bothers me. Hannibal Lecter is the ultimate connoisseur, a meticulous perfectionist with a passion for things exquisite. That character would never wear the hat they have given him in the movie. Hannibal’s movie hat is an over-bleached, low quality, machine-blocked Cuenca hat. Dr. Lecter would certainly have worn a fine quality, hand-blocked Montecristi Panama.

The clips presented here, and the movies from which they were taken, are the copyrighted property of their respective studios. They are shown here so that visitors to this site who might be interested in owning movies featuring Panama hats will know what those movies are, and will be able to see a “preview” of the Panama hat in the movie. I am providing a link to
www.amazon.com
for your convenience and to further encourage the purchase of these movies.

By no means is this collection complete. If you have any personal favorites that have not been included, please let me know and I will make every effort to add them. Enjoy.